Game of Thrones season 7 is out of the cage, and that means in the upcoming weeks your Facebook feed will transform into a gauntlet of fun-ruining spoilers.

You could have never watched GoT, but you’re probably already aware of what happened in the first episode of season 7. You could probably even name which artist made a surprise appearance (Shape of you anyone?).

For many Game of Thrones fans in Pakistan who were planning to watch the 1st episode at a civilized hour, they discovered the hard way that it sucks to go on Facebook and Twitter before they watch a particular episode.

Fortunately, there are ways to avoid the breathless online commentary that makes you feel less warmly towards Game of Thrones season 7.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Mute Certain Keywords on Twitter

Hot off the press is Twitter’s new feature that enables you to mute specific phrases, words, and hashtags for a certain period of time. Follow the steps below to leverage this option.

Go to Twitter.com and click “Settings and privacy” from your display image drop-down.

Select “Muted words” > “Add.”

Enter the word or hashtag you want to mute. Examples include #GoTSeason7 and #DemThrones.

Choose “Home timeline” if you want to omit the phrase and word from your timeline.

Choose “Notifications” if you want to omit the phrase or word from your Notifications. Specify “From only people I don’t follow” or “From anyone.”

Below “For how long?” select between “24 hours from now, Forever, 7 days from now, or 30 days from now.”

Choose “Add.”

The mute time period will now show beside each entered hashtag or word.

Follow these steps to keep your Twitter alerts as silent as Hodor.

2. Install GameofSpoils

GameofSpoils is a blessing in disguise for Game of Thrones fans in Pakistan. The Chrome extension blocks out mentions of the show from Google News, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and anywhere else people are having discussions about dire wolves or Tyrion Lannister. Whether you want to filter out specific GoT content or completely avoid every word about the show, this plugin will help you attain peace of mind to browse without worry.

3. Ignore, Don’t Read

I know it sounds like a long-shot, but you can become proactive in scanning your Facebook feed and Twitter timeline without actually reading each post or tweet completely. I often detect content referring to GoT because of specific wording or a visual associated with it. It’s challenging at first, but the more you practice, the more your eyes get trained to ignore social content related to the show and just scanning over what should be avoided.

Take steps now, so you can enjoy every upcoming episode. And remember, no matter what happens, we go forward, only forward.

This extends ad targeting on Messenger, which already accommodates Sponsored messages and ads from businesses.

The previously introduced functionality is like LinkedIn’s Sponsored InMail feature, where you’re able to send personalized messages to a targeted audience.

The move comes after initial tests in Thailand and Australia in January, and is an important step in Facebook’s plan to monetize audiences across its segregated and diverse platforms, which include Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and the main Facebook platform.

Out of the four, only WhatsApp doesn’t offer advertising at the moment.

How Facebook users in Pakistan react to Messenger ads remains to be seen.

They’ll be able to hide specific ads temporarily, but won’t be able to stop them entirely.

I’m excited to see how Messenger ads play out. Are you?

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Instagram has been on fire this year when it comes to releasing new features.

Pakistani Instagrammers received the Live Stories feature just recently, and now there’s another one out to experiment with.

I’m talking about the latest multiple photos / carousel feature.

You and I both know that sometimes you need more than one image to tell a story. With the carousel feature, you can add up to 10 images & videos inside one post.

Using Instagram Multi-Image Feature

What you’ll basically create is a slideshow / carousel of different images that people can swipe through, be it a step-by-step guide or a scavenger hunt.

To access the multi-image feature, try creating a post on Instagram. A cascading icon in the shape of a square will then appear at the bottom right. Tap it to upload additional images or videos in the same post.

You can even add Hyperlapse or Boomerang clips if they’re saved in the Photo Library. In addition, you can change the order of any image by tapping it and holding on to drag it around.

Moreover, you can apply the same filter on all images, or apply different ones on each. But there’s no option to apply separate location tags and captions on each image inside the carousel at the moment. However, it’s possible to tag people in each image and video.

After you publish a carousel post, your followers will spot multiple images / videos because blue dots will appear at the bottom of the content. They can tap it, and then swipe right or left to see through the slideshow.

Check out how Hina Altaf did it:

Instagram multi-photo feature Pakistan

You can see the floating square on her multiple photos post, as well as the 3 dots at the bottom in the second screenshot.

Final Thoughts

This multi-image / carousel technology was already available for sponsored Instagram posts that only business users could create. Now normal users, too, can utilize it for their Instagram feed.

Let’s see how creative Instagrammers in Pakistan can get with this feature. :)

About Me: I help local Pakistani brands and Pakistan-based international brands gain traction on Instagram. Get in touch if you’re interested in working together on multi-image Instagram campaigns.

That’s all you need to do to get your hands on one of such holographic lip glosses, and create a wonderful effect to show off to your followers, peers and relatives on Instagram.

About Me: I’m an Instagram marketing consultant for local and international brands operating in Pakistan. Contact me if you want new content ideas for your Instagram account or want to gain traction on the platform.

Since the announcement of Instagram Live in November, the company has been rolling out the live streaming service gradually to Instagrammers in different parts of the globe. It allows Instagrammers to share the footage of their moments in real-time, from live concerts to in-the-moment makeup tutorials.

And, you would be glad to know that Instagram Live is now available in Pakistan.

You can access the feature by swiping right from your Instagram feed and selecting “Start Live Video” in the camera. Alternatively, you can click the “Your Story” circle at the top left in the home feed section of Instagram.

Note that before going live, Instagram is going to check your internet connection and conduct a countdown of 3-seconds. So, if you’re not prepared on the whole, you will have some seconds to get your act together before you go live.

With Instagram Live, you can:

Do A Question / Answer Session

Take Followers Behind-The-Scenes

Broadcast Experiences Of Live Events

Share Interviews

Broadcast Live Tutorials

And More

What’s different about Instagram Live Stories is that the live story will disappear from the app as soon as you’re done with your video.

Additionally, users will be able to see “Top Live” in the Explore section if they want to view some of the trending videos made by Instagrammers out there.

Also, you can hide the real-time video from certain followers, if you need to. This is possible by changing the story settings from the Profile section. You’ll have to choose “Hide Story From” and specify the profiles you don’t want your live story to be visible to.

Moreover, you can control the comments you receive on your Live video. Because some comments might not be appropriate, you can choose to block comments with certain phrases or words. This can be done by clicking on Profile > Comments.

So Pakistani Instagrammers, are you ready to embrace Instagram Live?

About Me: I provide social media marketing consultancy to businesses in Pakistan, mainly focusing on Instagram as this platform is relatively young in this country. Know more by visiting the Services section on this website.

That’s because Instagram has updated its Stories feature with a “hands-free” recording option. This enables Pakistani Instagrammers to start recording a video with just a tap of a button.

Now you can play that tune on your guitar and create an Instagram Stories without any hassle.

It’s a strong tackle to Snapchat; Instagram's top rival still makes users tap and hold the record button while they make clips to share with their peers.

The new addition also allows you to add more text to your videos or photos by using one of the multiple text buttons that appear.

In addition, a slider will enable you to adjust the size of the text, as well as text wrap automatically so that it doesn’t go over the screen’s sides.

Also, if you are using an iPhone, you can save your entire story from the last 24 hours as a video.

But what has got me excited is the launch of Instagram Stickers.

An answer to Snapchat geofilters, Instagram Stickers enable you to spice up your videos and photos with stickers that showcase time, weather, emoji, location names, and more. Seasonable graphics related to Christmas and other holidays are also offered.

You can see all the available stickers from the new button that is accessible from the top right corner when you edit a story. The panel for stickers is a scrollable list of all the emojis on your device as well as the stickers created by Instagram.

Note: At this time of writing, stickers can only be added to Instagram Stories, not to normal Instagram posts.

Instagram hasn’t revealed whether or not in the future it will monetize this offering through sponsored sticker ads or enable Instagrammers to submit their own variants of stickers.

But one thing is for sure, users will get even more versatile options in 2017.

Here’s an example of the new stickers in action. The second button beside the volume button is where you can access stickers from.